The present invention relates to an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women, that includes an absorption body sandwiched between a liquid-permeable and a liquid-impermeable outer sheet and having a front portion which is intended to face forwards when the article is worn, and a rear portion, wherein the absorbent body tapers rearwardly from a section of largest width situated in the front portion of the article to the rear portion thereof.
A sanitary napkin of this nature is intended to be worn in so-called string panties, which are very narrow at the rear portion of the crotch part of the napkin. It is also desirable to provide sanitary napkins that are intended for string panties with outwardly projecting wings or flaps that are intended to be folded around the edges of a panty and fastened to the outside thereof and/or to each other, since such wings have been widely accepted in respect of sanitary napkins that are intended for use in conventional panties or underpants.
Flaps that are intended to be folded around the edges of string panties are narrow of necessity, and are folded around fold lines that are inclined to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the napkin. Sanitary napkins are normally produced in continuous process lines with the napkin blanks moving with their longitudinal axes coincidental with the machine direction. The glue strings applied to the liquid-impermeable outer sheet and to the outsides of the flaps are normally applied with the aid of glue nozzles or similar devices and therefore extend in the machine direction. Because the flaps of sanitary napkins intended for string panties are narrow and are inclined to the machine direction, it is not possible to apply glue strings of sufficient sizes on these flaps in the same manner as glue strings are applied to the flaps of sanitary napkins that are intended for use with conventional underpants or panties.
It is known in certain contexts to apply glue strings that are inclined to the machine direction, with the aid of a so-called label principle. The label principle involves the use of a rotating roll that includes an oblique pick-up surface which collects glue from a glue bath and applies the glue to a travelling web of material. Such a device is expensive. The use of the label principle also places a limitation on the types of glue that can be used in a sanitary napkin manufacturing line, because certain types of glue are liable to foam in the glue bath at the production rates prevailing in such manufacture. Production speeds of about 250 m/min are not unusual in the manufacture of sanitary napkins.
An object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid problems associated with applying an adhesive to the flaps of a flap-equipped absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women intended for use in string panties.
This object is achieved with an absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women that includes an absorbent body which is sandwiched between a liquid-permeable and a liquid-impermeable outer sheet and that has a front part which is intended to face forwards in use, and a rear part, wherein the absorbent body tapers rearwardly from a section of greatest width situated in the front part of the article to the end of the rear part of said article, and wherein the article is characterised in that it includes outwardly projecting, flexible flaps which extend beyond respective sides of the absorbent body along a part of the tapering portion of said body and which have longitudinal edges that are inclined relative to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article at an angle such that the distance between the outer sides of the flaps and the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article decreases towards the rear end of said article; and in that at least two strings of adhesive are applied to at least one of the flaps on that side of said flap which, in the unfolded state of the flap, lies on the same side of the article as said liquid-impermeable outer sheet, said strings extending parallel with the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article and being offset in relation to each another both longitudinally and transversely, wherein when the article is flat each rearwardly lying string is located closer to the longitudinal symmetry line of the article than the forwardly lying string. By utilising several short longitudinally extending adhesive strings that are offset relative to one another both longitudinally and transversely instead of a continuous inclined adhesive string, it is possible to provide an xe2x80x9cinclined adhesive stringxe2x80x9d with the same type of equipment as that normally used in sanitary napkin manufacturing lines.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the flaps are integral parts of the outer sheets and at least one adhesive string is applied to that part of a napkin that includes the absorbent body. The adhesive used will preferably be a pressure-sensitive hotmelt glue. The adhesive strings applied to the flaps may also mutually overlap longitudinally. The adhesive strings applied to the flaps are preferably rectangular in shape and of mutually the same size, and an imaginary line that passes through the transversely innermost corners of the strings on one and the same flap will have the same angle of inclination to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article as the outer longitudinal edge of said flap.